This invention relates to a building system. It relates more particularly to a building system using preformed blocks which require no mortar in order to position them to form a building structure.
Because of ever-increasing building costs, it is imperative that new techniques be developed to reduce the cost of building materials and to reduce the cost of the labor required to assemble these materials into a finished structure.
One way of accomplishing this is by dispensing with the various different building components such as studs, siding, etc. which have to be fitted and secured together to form a building wall and replacing them with a single type of preformed, load-bearing unit. The well-known cinder block is an example of such a unit and strong load-bearing walls can be constructed using cinder blocks.
A major disadvantage of cinder block construction stems from the fact that the blocks have to be mortared together to form the finished structure. Otherwise, lateral forces on the blocks will tend to move the blocks relative to one another and might cause collapse of the building. Not only does the required use of mortar increase the cost of materials and labor for the building, it also means that one must rely on a skilled mason in order to erect buildings of this type.
In many localities, particularly in underdeveloped countries, persons with such skills are not very plentiful. Moreover, in the same localities, it may be quite difficult to obtain the requisite quantity of mortar and transport it to the building site. All of these factors make it extremely difficult for the average person to build a house, for example, using presently available building techniques.
Conventional mortared block building systems are disadvantaged also because it takes many hours for the mortar to set to the point where the blocks cannot move relative to one another. Consequently, staging or scaffolding capable of supporting a man's weight is required in order to build even a moderately high mortared wall of this type, thereby adding to the construction cost and complexity.